Lingerie clasp



June 2,1931. L, v. ROONEY 1,808,436

LINGERIE CLASP Filed March 3. 1951 gwuento'o Patented d June" 2, 1931 UNITED (STATES LAURA V. RODNEY, WASHINGTON, DIS'IBIO'.I. OF COLUMBI.

.' amenmn cnasr Application filed March 8, 1981. Serial No. 519,858.

The device forming the subject of the in stant invention is primarily designed to connect the shoulder straps of underslips, or

' of other articles of womens underwear, .to 6 the underside of the shoulder portion of the outer garment and thereby prevent the discomfort and embarrassment which results from the slipping of said shoulder strap or straps off the shoulder of the wearer. Its 10 primary purpose is to provide a device of this nature which will be of simple and inexpensive construction, may be easily attached to or removed from the outer garment," may be worn without its presence bein noticed and without imposing any discomfort on its wearer, .and may be very easily closed about the strap or straps which it encircles and easily opened to free it from said strap or straps, and, when closed, will i be free from any tendency to open accidentally under any force'resulting from movements of the wearer. This purpose is secured from a construction, such as that illustrated in the accompanying drawings,

' characterized-inthat it comprises a flexible body member of a propriate length to-liebeneath and cross t e strap or straps to, be held against displacement, and having'one of its ends suitably attached to a pm by which it is fastened to-the outer garment adjacent the shoulder-seam of, the latter and its other end suitabl' attached to a member by which it is attac 'ed to the pointed end of the pin, and characterized further in that the latter member is formed to encase the pointed end of the pin and is engageable therewith and dise'ngageable therefrom by relative endwise movement of said member and pin and, in the use or the clasp,

will fully protect the wearer against an liability of being pricked bythe pin.

In the said drawings, in all figures of which the parts are shown largerthan they a will ordinarily be produced in practioei Fig. 1 is a side, or a plan, view of the claspshowing it in its open position;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the said clasp, showing its parts in the position they to occupy when the pointed end of the 'pin' is end of the body A is similarl it against accidenta displacement inserted into its holding member but has not been secured;

Fig. 3 is a view which indicates the clas attached to an outer garment and in hol ing relation with a lingerie strap;

Fi 4 is adetail sectional view on the line indicated at 4 in Fig. 3; I

Fig. 5 is a plan view, showing apart of the outer garment and a part of a lingerie strap connected to each other by my im- 00 proved clasp; v I

Fig. 6 is-a detail representation, on a larger scale than the preceding figures, showing in section one suitable construction of the member which encases and secures the 65.

in the accompanying figures of the drawings, may be of any suitable flexible materia'l-simh as tape, ribbon or the like, of either fabric or metal-and has one of its ends extending throu h a loop or eye 10, formed at one end 0 the pin, B, and 5e cured, as by cross stitches 11, whereby this i connection is of pivotal nature. The other pivotally connected to the member C or which m the use of the clasp encases the pointed end of the pin. This member 0 orC is engageable with and disngag'eable from the pin by endwise relative movement of the memher and in, andincludes elements -such I as those ereinafter described, for exam ple,-'-which tightly rasp the pin and old W0. embodiments, which difier' from each other only in-respect of the particularelementsf .which i 6 and grasp the pin, are shown in Figs. res tivelyr All other elements, being alike' m both embodiments are re- 1 .spectivel designated bylike reference numetals, ut diflerent' reference characters are applied in Fi 6' and 7 to the elements, whic corresp'on with, but are specifically different from each other.

Thus, in each embodiment, the member 0 m ing end of the member A is extende and appro riately secured,-as by cross stitches 14. his connection of the member A with the pin point encasing and holding member C or C therefore is of pivotal nature. The

head 12 is formed with an opening 15 andis provided with a sleeve, marked 16 in Fi 6 and 16? in Fi 7, which sleeve is fixedFy secured to the ead and has its opening in longitudinal alinement with said opening 15. Each embodiment also includes a barrel of substantially frusto-conical shape, marked 17 in all the figures. This barrel is slidable u on the sleeve, 16 or 16', and is-under tenslon of a suitable spring 18 b which it is normally held in a retracted pin holding) position with its inner end against. the end of the head 12. Its outer end is formed with an opening, which is shown most clearly in Fi 6, at 19, and is also shown, though undesignated, in Fig. 7. This opening in each embodiment 1s alined with the opening in the corresponding sleeve, 16 or 16', and afiords access of the pointed end of the pin into the latter.

The correlation of the body member A,

' plin B, and pin encasing 0r securing member or C is such that after the pin B has been inserted in the flaps or free ends of, d of the outer garment D, adjacent the shoulder seam d", and the body member A has been extended under the lingerie strap E- or straps, if more than one strap is to be held-the pointed end of the pin may be inserted through the opening 19 at the outer end of the barrel 17 and through the sleeve 13 or 16' and into the opening 15 in the head In order that the pin, when its ointed end is seated in the member C or may be tightly grasped adjacent said pointed end by said member, means under control of said barrel 17, areprovlded to tightly grasp and thereby hold the pin against accidental displacement. The means referred to may be of any suitable nature. For example, in Fig. 6 a pair of balls, 20, are mounted in lateral openings formed in opposite sides of a flange 21 at the outer end of the sleeve 16 and are pressed into holding engagement with opposite sides of the pin by the outer end of the barrel 17 which atter,.it will be noticed, is tapered and so correlated with the outer surface of the flange and balls that when the barrel is in its inward osition the balls will be pressed tightly agamst the side of the pin and when in its outward position, shown in Fig.2 and indicated in .dotted outline in Fig. 6, the pressure of the barrel upon the balls will be released. Accordingly, the barrel should be slid longitudinally outwardly upon the sleeve'in the operation of inserting the pin .ber. As soon as the pressure upon the barrel is released, the spring 18 retracts the barrel and, if the pointed end of the pin.

has been inserted, causes the balls to be forced into holding engagement with the pm. The embodiment illustrated in Fig. 7

difl'ers from that already set forth in that the holding elements are flexible fingers 20 formed by slittin (as shown at 21') the flange formed at t e outer end of the sleeve,

- which sleeve is marked 16' in this figure.

It will be noticed that in both exemplified embodiments of the invention the barrel 1.7 is of gradually lessening diameter toward its outer end, to cause it to exert pressure upon the balls 20 or fingers 20' when in its inward position and to release said pressure in its movement to its outward position, and, in its said outward movement, to place its spring, 18, under compression between the flange at the outer end of the correspondin sleeve and the inner end of the barrel. he spring. 18, in both embodiments, thus is operative to return the barrel 17 to its retracted position upon the corresponding sleeve as soon as the pressure imposed on said barrel by the user 'to move it outward, for the insertion or removal of easily attached by its pin temporarily to a garment with which it is to be'used and at v the same time will be freefrom all liability of any discomfort arising from the use of a pin as its fastening element and of all liability of disconnection of the pin from its holding member.

Having thus described the invention what I believe to be new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

, 1. 'A lin erie clasp comprising a flexible body mem er, a pin connected to one end of the bod member, and a member connected .to t e other end of the body member and formed to be engageable with and disengageable from the pointed end of the pin by longitudinal movement of the pin relatively thereto and including holding means movable relatively. to the pin and 7 member includin tively to the with and disen able from the pm under control of longitudinal movement of the barrel.

3. The hereindescribed lingerie clasp, consisting of a flexible body member, a pin havi at one end a loop into which an end of the flexible body member is linked, a

a head havin an opening and provide the other end of the body mem r is linked, and also includin a sleeve projecting from the outer end 0 the head and provided with a flange at its free end, means carried by said flange and movable into and out of holding engagement with the gin adjacent the pointed end, a barrelslid 1y mounted relatively to said means and having one end adapted to exert pressure on the same to there y force said means into holding engagement with the pin, and a tensioning spring mounted upon the sleeve and between said flan e and. the other'end of the barrel, for hol ing. said barrel normally in the position in which it exerts pressure on said pin engaging means.

.In testimony whereof, I have hereunto ailixed my signature.

pin and elements engageable with a mto which LAURA v. RODNEY. I 

